Sister Ai’s Black Beauty (2022)

Novel Production Type Tea

What is “Black Beauty”?

This “Black Beauty” is one of the juiciest and most fruity teas I’ve ever had.

It arose from a realization that Sister Ai had several years ago, when she noticed that tea collectors in China would pay large sums for older teas, but looked down on new teas as not worth their time.

Sister Ai was determined to use her skills as a 4th Gen tea farmer to make something that would wow even the most stubborn old-tea drinkers. The result? A new production technique mixing steps of pu’er, red tea and white tea-making.

Sister Ai describes it this way:

“Spring ancient tree tea leaves are picked by hand and set to wither for the first day. For days 2 through 4, the tea undergoes several days of withering, kneading and rolling to break cell walls and free up flavor, before being piled and fermented, and then left to sun-dry. On day 5, the leaves undergo this same process except that they are now dried in the shade. From picking to final storage of the completed Black Beauty takes five days’ time.”

Since it doesn’t fit neatly in any tea type, I am describing it as a “novel production type tea”.

THE TEA

Each box contains:

1 50g tea cake (7-10 sessions’ worth of tea, ~2 oz) 

Black Beauty has the tea energy and pep of a sheng pu’er, with the fragrance and richness of a red tea and the easy-drinking mouthfeel of a white tea.

The scent is explosively fruity and floral - make sure not to miss it when you make your first steep! The flavor is multi-layered and changes from lighter and smooth in the opening steeps to richer and almost creamy in the middle steeps.

It’s a real treat of a tea that is good for both beginner tea drinkers looking for a special session and even more experienced drinkers who want to try something on the edge of tradition and innovation.

These leaves come from wild trees between 200-1000 years old from a protected nature reserve in Qianjiazhai. These ancient trees’ extensive root systems that reach far for nutrients and that are surrounded by native plants contribute to a special terroir, making Yunnan ancient tree tea some of the best in the world.

Jesse Explains:

Sister Ai’s Qi Zi Bing “Seven Cakes” Series

Sister Ai is a 4th gen tea farmer who we collaborate with to make this “seven cakes” series.

In the ancient days of the Tea Horse Road trading route, loose leaf tea was pressed into discs and then wrapped in bamboo leaves in stacks of seven 357g tea cakes.

These wrapped packages, known as “Tongs”, were the basic unit of tea trade in Yunnan for hundreds of years. Tongs are still available in China today, if you work directly with the farmers.

I’ve always wanted to sell tongs, but most people don’t need 2 kilos of one type of tea. So while we’re sticking to tradition by putting seven cakes in each traditional hand-wrapped tong, I’ve put seven different teas in each tong, all from Sister Ai and her family’s mountains.

I’ve also made the sizes a bit more consumer-friendly, with 7 x 7g mini-tongs and 7 x 50g full tongs. Try a mini-tong to get the whole range of flavors, or the full tong as a mega-sampler for both value and variety.

All seven of the Qi Zi Bing “Seven Cakes” series are available as individual 50g cakes as well, so you can always come back for your favorites.

VALUE AND QUALITY

Jesse's Teahouse started because Jesse realized the quality and value of the tea directly from China was so much higher than what could be easily found in the States -- and around the world.

Jesse contacted his tea friends, they shipped their best teas to him, and he sends them to you. That's it!

These teas are high quality and can be re-steeped multiple times! Each session makes between 4-8 cups of tea, so at around $.50 a cup, you get top quality Chinese teas at a price that you can enjoy every day.

 

NOT JUST TEA, TEA CULTURE

Jesse believes the key to making good tea is to help his Chinese tea friends share not just their best teas, but the best ways to make the teas.

That's why each box comes also comes with an info card that tells you:

• Tea Origin

• Steep Temperature

• Steep Time

• Directions for both teapot steeping and gaiwan steeping

All Jesse’s Teahouse Tea Friends (that’s you now!) also get access to private YouTube videos where Jesse and his Chinese tea friends show you how to make the teas and explain the tea-making process. 

The links are on QR codes on the back of the info card included in the tea box.

Don't Forget Your Tea Pets!

In Chinese Gongfu Tea Tradition, Tea Pets accompany you at teatime and you "raise" them by feeding them tea! Check out the tea pets at the bottom of this page.